The Argentinian Mob Job
by FlynnWriter
Summary: When the team saves Hardison from torture at the hands of Argentinian mobsters, will he tell them why? established Parker/Hardison
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Alec Hardison sat chained to a chair in a damp and musty warehouse just south of Boston. Blood dripped from a deep cut on his upper arm, staining the entire sleeve russet-brown as it dried. A grungy thug lifted Alec's head to look at the well-dressed man in front of him. His black suit was tailored to his body, and reeked of wealth. "One more chance, Mr. Hardison. Where is she?"

"I don't know," Alec muttered. The thug punched him in the side, and he doubled over, struggling to breathe. Another powerful fist met his cheek, and Alec felt warm blood dripping down his face. His head throbbed, and he was gasping for breath. "I'm not…going to tell….you anything."

"So you do know something?" A Cheshire-cat like grin spread over the man's face. "Well good. That actually makes this worthwhile. I don't normally like to get my hands dirty, but under the circumstances…" He picked up a pair of pliers and stalked to where Alec sat, panting from lack of air and pain. "I shouldn't have to warn you that this might hurt…" He positioned the pliers carefully around Hardison's fingernail.

"You're never going to touch her."

The man didn't say a word, but yanked out the fingernail in one fluid motion. The pain would have been strong and intense for any other person, but Hardison could barely feel it through the haze of agony that his brain was already experiencing. He felt the pressure of a second nail being pulled out, and began to lose consciousness. Suddenly, his chair tipped over, and her heard grunts coming from the man as punches landed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a body fall to the floor, and he heard two sets of footsteps running out of the building. A head appeared above him, a sweet voice calling his name. "Alec? Alec, are you alright?" He couldn't believe his eyes. Even in the fog of unconsciousness, he knew that face.

"Amy…" he whispered, his voice tired and scratchy. "You need to go, Amy. You're not safe…" before he could finish, he was claimed by the artic stillness of sleep.

* * *

Parker spun on a wheeled desk chair as she watched Hardison sleeping on the couch at HQ. She never turned all the way around, stopping before she completely lost sight of him and then turning the other way. She didn't want to let him go again, and even though she knew it was irrational, she couldn't stand to turn her back on him, in case he disappeared entirely. The door opened, and Nate, Eliot, and Sophie walked in the door. "Is he awake yet?" Nate asked. Parker shook her head, still spinning.

They all settled around the couch, watching their injured comrade. Eliot had bandaged him up, and the white sterility stood in cold contrast against his dark skin, a constant reminder of the mysterious kidnapping. "Did you guys figure anything out?" Parker asked quietly. They all shook their heads, still puzzled.

"We were just lucky that we found him when we did," Eliot said. "Another fifteen minutes and…" None of them really wanted to think about what could have happened. "Wait, he's waking up."

Hardison slowly opened his eyes, watching the heads clustered above him slowly turn into the faces of his team. "Parker?" She had leaped off her chair to kneel by him.

"Right here, Alec. I'm here." Her face was filled with anguish, and immediately Hardison felt guilt course through his body.

"What happened?" He asked, not wanting to believe what he saw.

"Once we figured out where you were, Eliot took out the muscle, but Quiroga, the man who was interrogating you, got away. Sophie took care of you while Nate and I cased the rest of the building for any more people."

Hardison began to sit up, but a strike of pain in his head lashed him to the couch. "Whoa there, Hardison, Careful!" Eliot said, reaching out to a couple of pills on the coffee table. "Take these. You probably have a pretty nasty concussion, and your fingers will hurt for a while, but you should be fine." Hardison swallowed the capsules with difficulty, and lay back down.

Nate stood and walked around the back of the couch. "Why were you there, Alec? Why are you involved with Quiroga?" Alec only shook his head, closing his eyes. "Dammit, Hardison, he could come back! Why didn't you tell us? What is going on?"

"Nate, calm down!" Parker said urgently. "Just let him rest. He's safe here."

"Is he?" Nate thundered. It was obvious that he had had a few drinks again. "Are we? We can't know, because we don't know a damn thing about what's going on! You need to tell us if you're going to go after a mob boss. I don't know if you realize, but you're part of something here. We could have helped you." His voice broke a little, revealing how much he really cared for the safety of his team. "We could have protected you."

Still, Hardison didn't say a word. Nate walked away, slamming his fist on the kitchen counter before opening his liquor cabinet to pour himself a drink. "Who's Amy?" Sophie asked quietly. Nate almost didn't hear her.

"Amy?" He asked questioningly.

Sophie looked at the group, whose faces all bore the same puzzled look. She continued. "Listen, before you passed out, you saw me, and you called me Amy. Who's Amy?"

Hardison sighed. "Amy…is my sister."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"I didn't know you had a sister," Sophie said. "Did you meet her in foster care?"

"No, she's my real sister. Half-sister." He yawned. "Can I just sleep right now?"

"Of course." Parker said, shooting a look and an incensed Nate, who was about to speak.

"Of course." He echoed obediently.

As soon as Hardison was asleep, the others gathered around the counter. Sophie opened her laptop, and pulled up some results. "There's nothing on an Amy Hardison. No records, it doesn't show that he had a sister at all. And this is the government, they track everybody!"

"Hardison never mentioned a sister." Parker said. "I would have remembered. That's not something to lie about!"

"Who says he's lying?" Eliot said. "This is Hardison. He can put anything on the grid, but he can also take anyone he wants to off of it"

"But why would he have done that? Why hasn't he told us before? And what does this have to do with Quiroga?" Nate asked.

"Maybe nothing," Parker suggested. "Maybe it's all a coincidence."

"No, I know Helán Quiroga." Sophie said. "He doesn't do anything without a good, justifiable reason."

"So…he's a pretty good guy." Nate teased.

"I'm saying, he doesn't torture people for fun. He doesn't sill people out of their pensions. He does it because it's the family business, not because he necessarily enjoys it."

"What about his son?"

"Josef? I'm not sure. I mean, I've never met the family, only watched from afar. Honor among thieves, you know."

"How far?"

"Are you plotting what I think you're plotting?" She smiled seductively. "I love undercover ops."

* * *

Hardison woke again to an eerily quiet darkened room, all by himself. He sat up, pleased that his head didn't spin or throb as much as it had before, which he considered a success. He noticed two more capsules and a glass of water on the table, and eagerly gulped them down to quell the pain in his fingers and arm. Quietly, he stood up, testing his balance. He stepped forward, tripped, and landed on…Eliot?

"GAH!" Hardison's panicked scream awoke Nate too, Hardison could hear footsteps thundering down the stairs.

"Hardison!" Eliot shouted, grabbing him by the arms. "Calm down! Geez." He massages his arm, where Hardison had hit the hardest. "You okay?" Nate burst in, holding the small handgun he kept by his bed.

"What the hell happened?"

"I just stood up to go to the bathroom, and apparently Eliot decided it was a good idea to sleep with me tonight."

"I'm protecting you." Eliot grinned. ""It's not my fault you tripped."

"Hrmph." Hardison walked into the bathroom, and Nate flipped on the lights.

"It's almost morning anyways," Eliot said, glancing at his watch.

"Eliot, it's 4:30AM. What do you mean, almost morning? I still have a good two hours of sleep in me."

Eliot just snorted, stretching out his sore limbs. "Your floor sucks."

"Maybe you shouldn't have volunteered to sleep there, then!" Nate said, starting the coffee machine. He pulled three mismatched mugs out of the cupboards, and set them around the bar. "Coffee will be ready soon," he yawned.

"What do you have for breakfast?"

"Coffee."

"Seriously man? Fine. I'll whip something up. Do you have any eggs?" He was already rifling through the refrigerator.

"Nope."

"Bacon? Ingredients for pancakes? Nothing?" Nate kept shaking his head. "What do you eat in the morning?"

"Coffee."

The door opened behind them, and suddenly they whipped around, ready to react. "Relax boys, it's just me." Sophie said, closing the door with her foot and putting the grocery bags on the table. "I figured we could probably use some food here, if you all stayed the night." Eliot was picking through the bags, lifting out ingredients and shoving others in the fridge.

"You are a goddess, Soph." Nate rolled his eyes, but didn't protest as Eliot began his work.

"How is he?" She asked. "Where is he?"

"Bathroom. He seems to be better," Eliot said, finely chopping some green onions.

"Has he said anything about what's going on?"

"Not yet." Eliot poured all the ingredients into a skillet as Hardison walked back into the room

"Man, I hope that omelet's for me. Hey Soph."

"Hello Hardison. How are you doing?"

"Good." He smiled, somewhat loopy. "Eliot's got magic pills."

Eliot snickered. "Just Vicodin. Nothing else."

"Where's Parker?"

"Right here!" The voice came from the couch behind them. The team jumped, not having seen her come in.

"Jesus, Parker! Give a guy a heart attack, why don't you?" Nate said, clutching his mug in both hands. "Okay Hardison, we're all here. Time to start talking."

"Right. Okay. Amy…Amy was my half-sister. We lived with our mum until she was five and I was seven, then social services took us, and we never saw her again…not that we minded. We were shuttled from house to house until Amy was eleven. We had moved into a house in downtown Chicago, and one night, when Amy was sitting outside reading, she…she witnessed a mob hit." Hardison's voice grew soft and emotional, but also protective. The police questioned her, and she was all set up to testify…and then…" He choked, but the others stood silently, not wanting to assume the worst, but not succeeding at hoping. They had all danced with the mob, and they knew how often people got burned. "And I knew what could happen. I…I erased her, I made her disappear. I took away all her records, I got a friend of mine to create a new life for her."

Nate sighed. "And now the mob is trying to find her again."

"I don't know how they could have connected us. Literally, I erased every connection, every record."

"You haven't seen your sister in eighteen years?" Sophie said.

"I don't even think I could track her down. I've been trying ever since…" He stopped abruptly to the stares of his friends.

"Since?" Eliot prompted.

"Since I noticed someone following me about a month ago."

"You're an idiot!" Parker said. "What were you thinking?"

"It was just a couple of days. When we had the week off. It had nothing to do with you guys."

"That's not what we were talking about, Hardison! You could have been killed!" The petite blonde steamed with anger.

Nate cut her off before she could continue. "It was stupid, Hardison. You should have told us. I assume you checked them out?"

"They were Quiroga's muscle. They weren't threatening me at all, they just waited outside my house, and followed me to the grocery store and such."

"But why didn't you tell us?" Nate insisted. "You're not alone any more. We can protect you."

"I don't need protection!" Alec said adamantly.

"Then explain why you're hurt," Parker soothed. "Alec, let us help."

There was a brief pause, the entire team waiting anxiously. "Alright." He conceded.

"Wonderful." Nate said, striding over to the wall of screens. "Then we need a plan."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"I thought we were doing undercover!" Sophie whined. "I was looking forward to breaking in my new Jimmy Choos!"

"Relax, Soph. You'll get to pull out your glamour soon." Nate sighed, looking forward to the performance himself. "We're running the rum punch con."

"Mmm." She sighed, mulling it over. "I like that. Who's the mark?"

Hardison opened his computer, typing furiously. "Josef Quiroga. The man who…"

Silence fell over the room, everyone exchanging nervous glances. "…who tortured you." Parker finished quietly.

"And then what?" Sophie asked.

"We need to find out if he knows where Amy is, if he even knows who she is."

"Well, that's going to take a while, don't you think? I mean, relationships take some time to develop to the point of trust necessary to start asking those questions. We need answers now!"

"I'm aware of that. That's why we're changing the con. You'll be a grafter, but also…you'll be a spy."

"I'm beginning to like the sound of this." A smile crept across her face. "Hardison, you'll set me up with a background?"

"Sure thing. Soph, be careful. Josef is willing to do anything to make this go away."

"I'm used to people covering for their mistakes Hardison, it shouldn't be any different than normal."

"But it's not his mistakes he's covering for. It's his father's. Amy saw Helán Quiroga and two men shoot an unarmed man through the head. That's first degree murder for all three of them. Josef is just protecting his father, because if Helán goes to prison, the whole organization collapses at this point."

"Why are they so vulnerable right now?" Nate interjected. "Wouldn't someone else just take over?"

"That's normally what would happen, but they're in the process of moving their organization from Argentina to Boston. Now, Argentina is one for the world's foremost immigrant hubs, so the company also has roots in France, Ireland, and Italy. When we pulled off the wedding job, we also unwittingly destabilized the ties between the Quiroga family and the Irish mob. Now, the two are in major opposition to each other, because they're fighting over connections that they used to share. If the Argentinians lose their leadership, then all of their holdings will most likely collapse."

"Yikes. So how does Amy fit into this? Why have they waited so long?" Nate asked.

"I don't know. Maybe they decided it was finally a risk they could not afford, maybe they caught a break and found a clue, I'm not really sure." Hardison sighed. "And I can't find her at all."

"Why were they following you? How did they find you?"

"They knew my background, when Amy disappeared, I suppose it wasn't hard to track the work back to me. I just don't know why they waited so long, or why they care at all. They must know that Amy isn't going to come forward, if she hasn't so far."

Nate stepped in front of the screens, and they sat up attentively, ready for action. "Here's what we're going to do. Sophie, you're going to go undercover to meet Josef, and provide him with an opportunity to make some money selling…"

"Drugs." Hardison said. "They already have a finger in everything else, but Quiroga thinks the risk in smuggling drugs is a lot higher than other ventures."

"Alright then. Drugs. Make sure he knows that this is all his doing, not his father's. Ask him about what his role is in the mob, try to work in something about 'loose ends'."

"I know how to do this, Nate. I'm a grifter." He ignored her, turning instead to Parker.

"Parker, you take Eliot and try to find any information you can on the hit that Amy witnessed, or on Hardison's kidnapping."

"What about me?" Hardison asked.

"Keep trying to find Amy. Contact your old friend, see if he remembers where he sent her or who he sent her to."

"And you?" Sophie asked.

"I'll be your drug connection, if you need one."

She raised a perfectly styled eyebrow. "You're going to get my illegal drugs?"

"If you need them." Nate said with a shrug. "I don't think I need to tell anyone how important this is." They all shook their heads, stealthily glancing at Hardison, who sat on the couch, head in his hands. "Good. Then, we'll start this afternoon. See you in three hours." without another word, he stalked upstairs to his bedroom, leaving his four people to prepare for the con as well as they could.

* * *

"Mr. Quiroga?" Sophie said, her voice smooth as Brazilian honey. She looked stunning in a short, fitted plum dress, and four inches taller in her new heels. She held her hand out, and Josef Quiroga took it an kissed it sweetly, his lips lingering just a moment too long.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but I don't believe that I've had the pleasure of making your acquaintance." He said, his eyes wandering to Sophie's stunning necklace, and then a bit lower.

She smiled, sitting down next to him at the mahogany bar. "Alicia Stark."

"Alicia." He repeated. "You're Spanish."

"I'm a mix. Not unlike yourself, I hear. Josef, Russian. Quiroga, Uruguayan. Your family, Argentinian."

"Impressive. Now, what business do you have with me, Miss Stark?"

"I have a proposition." She said bluntly. "I'm here to offer you money."

"In return for what?" He said skeptically.

"In return for a few favors. You have ties in the distribution network, I'm sure. I can get units transported, but what I really need is distribution. My last partner went over my head…well, tried. So now I'm turning to you."

Quiroga's voice hardened. "My father won't deal in drugs. I'm sorry, Miss Stark." His eyes were somewhat downcast, undoubtedly thinking about the price of turning down such a woman.

"That's why I came to you. Your father is notorious for not getting into our world, but you…you could make a fortune. Your father does not need to know about it." Josef was still hesitant, but Sophie could see his eyes beginning to believe her. "Just think about it. Most of your father's worries don't even apply anymore. MY deception is electronic, not personal." She waited for a minute before turning to leave. "It was nice to meet you, Josef," She whispered in his ear. He felt her hand slide into his pocket and pull out a pen. Sophie scribbled her number on the cocktail napkin and walked away, sneaking one last glance over her shoulder at the man who couldn't take his eyes off her.

"Message delievered, Nate." She said, strutting out of the restruant. "I'm guessing less than three hours before he calls me."

Nate's voice crackled through the earpiece. "Nice work, Soph. Now come back, we've still got a long way to go."


	4. Chapter 4

Eliot walked down the hallway of a flat in downtown Boston, looking for one door in particular. As he stepped up to room 506, he checked over both of his shoulders and spoke low, "Parker, it's clear."

Suddenly, an air vent cracked open over his head. "I know!" Parker's blond ponytail slid out first, followed smoothly by the rest of her body. "It's already open too." Eliot rolled his eyes, and slowly opened the door.

"It's clear. Go ahead…" He said, but she had already passed him. "Why do you never wait for me?" He stalked in after her, closing the door sharply behind him. "Alright, where do you want me to look?"

"Take the desk. I'll cover the safe." Her nimble fingers were already twirling the simple combination lock, one delicate ear pressed against the gray steel. With a click and a grin, the door of the safe eased open, and Parker slid out a stack of folders. "What do we have here?" she said, abandoning the files and thumbing through a wad of government bonds. "Well, it's almost money."

"Why would they have bonds?"

"And they're legitimate. Maybe it's a way of proving that they make money somewhat legally?"

"Like a front."

"Sure." Suddenly, she spotted the files that she had dropped before. "Whoa. When did Amy witness the murder?"

"April 1992."

"Eliot…There are files here from September '92, and February '93."

"Do you think that they're about the murder? Legal files, or police reports maybe?"

"Only one way to find out." She grabbed the files, madly flipping through them. "She's not here…there's no mention of her."

"That's impossible. Hardison said that there was a report filed, and she was going to testify. There has to be some record, some sign. Hardison's good with technology, yes, but hard copies? How the hell did he get her out of those?"

"These are the case files, I swear, she's not in any of them. They don't even look like they've been redacted at all."

"Seriously?" He grabbed the files out of her hands, spilling some of their contents. He fell to his knees to pick them up, but spread the rest on the floor instead. "Then why do they need the files?"

Hardison sat dismally in front of the tv, his head pounding in his hands. Eliot had taken away the meds when he and Parker went to search Quiroga's room, leaving Hardison with nothing but drugstore ibuprofen and what felt like a massive hangover, but was really just the concussion. The screens in front of him were black and the lights were dimmed as Nate walked into the room, his shoes squeaking on the hardwood floors and making Alec squirm.

"Nate."

"Yes, Hardison?"

"Take of your shoes. For the love of God, please take them off."

Nate looked at him strangely for a moment, but kicked off his shoes and padded over to the couch in his sock feet. "Headache?"

Hardison looked miserable, his closed eyes only accentuated the baggy circles underneath  
them, and the bandages looked ratty already, even though Nate knew that Eliot had only just put them on. "Remind me to fight Eliot for the meds if he ever takes them again."

"You would end up with more than a concussion for fighting Eliot..."

"but then he would feel bad, and leave them with me anyways."

"Ah. A genius plan." Nate watched him for a minute, struggling to find which was hurting him more: the emotional or physical stress.

"Are you okay, Alec?"

"Man, I have a concussion, and I'm missing some fingernails! Of course I'm not okay!"

"No, I mean, looking for your sister. You haven't seen her in what, ten years? twelve? What if she's not who you want her to be? A lot can change."

"I don't want to find her. I want to see her, of course; I've never stopped  
loving her, but what I want more than anything else is for her to be safe."

"So you have absolutely no idea where she is."

"Nate, she could be our next door neighbor and I wouldn't have a clue."

"We need to find her." Nate said, standing abruptly and flipping on the lights.

"No, Nate. Weren't you just listening? If we find her, then they find her. We would lead them right to her the minute we make contact." His face was terrified at the thought of the Argentinians finding his sister, and what they would do to her if they did.

"See, that's why we won't make contact."

"I don't follow."

"We need to figure out how Quiroga might have found her, right?"

"So we can lock down that portal...but..." Suddenly, clarity broke through his hazy mind. "So we look for her, and see if we can find her, and that's probably how they found her."

"If they found her at all."

Immediately, Hardison leaned forward, eagerly opening his laptop. "Okay, let's do this." His fingers were a blur, and though Nate tried his damndest to follow them, screens flew by so quickly that he gave up. "Wait." Hardison stopped abruptly, pulling back from the keyboard as if he had been shocked. "Part of the reason that I didn't hide her myself is that I didn't want to know the location, in case they got to me. What if..."

Nate reassured him. "You're safe now, Hardison. We know who to look for, and they don't know that you're here. We made sure of that."

"They got to me the first time, didn't they?"

"If they kidnap you again, you have my word that the first thing I will do is pick her up and protect her."

"Before you even start to look for me, you get her." Hardison said, still fiercely protective. "You find her, and then find me if you can. She is your priority."

"I swear." Nate said, looking solemnly into his eyes. "Now let's find her." Hardison took a deep breath and began typing, but this time, more reserved. His fingers no longer scurried across the keyboard, they now held the weight of the responsibility that had just been realized.

Sophie collapsed on the couch next to Hardison, kicking off her shiny, skinny heels. "I hate breaking in new shoes!" She said, rubbing her feet.

"What did you find out?"

"Well, there was nothing special in his day planner, so I assume it's just his normal schedule."

"Which is what, Sophie?"

"Calm down, Alec. No need to shout."

"Sophie, I have been stuck in here for the past three days, searching for my sister. If you don't have anything to contribute, feel free to walk out of here."

She inclined her head, studying the young man in front of her. "I emailed it to you." She said evenly.

"Well, I didn't get it."

"I'll try again," she said testily. She poked a few buttons on her smartphone. "Did you get it now?"

"Finally," he muttered, typing the information into his parameters. "Maybe we can actually find her now."

"Hardison!" Sophie yelled. She was not offended exactly, but she had never seen Hardison so invested in a case.

"What Soph?" He responded, incensed that her protests had pulled him out of his screens. "I honestly don't have time to chat right now."

"Hardison, when was the last time you slept?" she asked, eyeing the almost-empty bottle of painkillers. "When did you last eat?"

"Dunno," he responded, turning back to the keyboard.

"You do know you're supposed to take these with food, right?"

"Sophie, Please, I beg of you, stop distracting me. I need to find my sister, and right now, you are not helping." He was trying to be patient, but was consumed by a deep terror and guilt that the abandonment of his sister might have led to tragedy.

"Alec, I'm just trying to..."

"Sophie, I swear to God." He closed his eyes. "Just. Leave."


	5. Chapter 5

Hours later, Hardison woke up on the couch, his arm draped over Parker, who had cuddled into his tall frame. His mess of monitors and keyboards sat untouched, and he found his tablet stuffed awkwardly under his side. Trying not to disturb her, he gently extracted himself from the couch, but as soon as his warmth was gone from her side, Parker sat up, wild-eyed. "Hardison!"

"Hey, Hey, Parker! It's okay, it's okay." Her mind finally caught up with her reflexes, and she focused on his face.

"You're okay."

"I'm okay." He repeated, gently holding her shoulders to calm her down. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Sophie…" Parker began.

"Sophie needed to get out of my hair!" Alec said angrily. He grabbed his tablet, and sat down. "I lost three hours for that nap. Finally, I get some peace and quiet to work." His fingers were just warming up, skittering across the surface with an unmatched speed.

"Alec, Sophie…"

"I'll deal with her later. I shouldn't have snapped at her, but honestly…"

"Alec!" The panic in her voice was the only thing to draw him out of his focused drive. He looked up, his fingers hovering over the surface. "Alec, Sophie's missing. We can't find her. Eliot and I were looking all night…Nate can't even get a hold of her."

Hardison froze. "What are you saying?"

"Nobody has seen her since you did last night."

"No. She's probably at home, or grifting, or something…" Hardison sputtered. "You guys checked her flat and everything?"

"We even ran her cards, although most of the technology stuff is your domain…" Hardison took the hint, and resumed his mad typing, although this time with a different goal in mind. His screens hopped from camera feed, tracking Sophie's path until she dropped from view.

"Looks like she spent some time downstairs in the bar for a while, then left and detoured through the park. There's no cameras in the park, but I have her coming out on 43rd street, and then…she's gone. She just disappears!" I should be able to pick her up in the ATM camera on the next block, or if she turned, the security camera outside the bakery, but there's nothing!"

"You're looking for her on foot, right?" He nodded, still flipping through multiple angles, but paused for a millisecond. "You think she's in a car."

Parker nodded, sitting down beside him and snuggling in close again. Grabbing a couch pillow and hugging it to her stomach, she watched the various traffic cams. "There!" she pointed, her finger resting on the screen.

"What?" Hardison asked, puzzled.

"The car. No plates."

"They could have come up behind her and drugged her, then dragged her into the car. That's how they got me, I think." Hardison looked sick. "They couldn't get to me, so they took her. God, I shouldn't have gotten mad. I told her to leave, and she walked into the middle of an ambush."

"Hey, it's not your fault." She set a hand on his arm, but he shook it off. "I'll call Nate and Eliot. Go back to sleep, you still look exhausted."

"No, I still need to find Amy. It's just…"

"Hm?"

"I don't know where to look any more. Soph got me Quiroga's schedule, but I checked everything, and he probably got thugs to do it for him anyways. I'm stuck." Parker could practically see the wheels grinding in his head, struggling harder and harder as they ran out of momentum. "And now Sophie? What am I doing?" Results slinked across the screen, but nothing they were looking for. Suddenly, Hardison whipped his head around to face Parker. "Wait…" he said, the gears beginning to churn a bit faster.

"What? WHAT?" He started mumbling to himself, and Parker saw the time stamps on the videos begin to roll backwards. "Alec, talk to me!"

"Once is a coincidence, but twice is the start of a pattern. The abductions! Parker, think. about it. Maybe Amy was abducted the same way as we were. We know Quiroga's stomping ground, and the timetable, so we can find her."

"Hardison, we don't even know she's been kidnaped. You're overreacting. We need to find Sophie."

"No, you need to find Sophie. I need to find my sister!"

"Alec, stop. STOP!" She grabbed his hands. "Listen to me. Find Sophie, and we can find out if she saw or heard anything about Amy."

"Okay, okay, Sophie…to Amy. Sophie…to Amy." He recited the mantra over and over, and in less than thirty seconds, he pulled up the aerial view of a warehouse. "I tracked the car here. We've got her."

* * *

Sophie sat bound to a chair in the back corner of the large storeroom. Her head hung, and Eliot winced as he saw blood dripping on the floor. Two thugs leaned against the wall, smoking cigarettes. As Eliot began moving in, the abrasive jingle of a cell phone froze him in his tracks. The younger Quiroga stepped out of the shadows, cell in one hand and a glinting silver knife in the other. "No sign of them…we're close. Give me a few more minutes." He chuckled. "No, that's okay, take your time. I'm enjoying this one."

Eliot snarled under his breath, and stalked forward. The two thugs were easy to take out, overgrown hunks of muscle that moved slowly and predictably. Eliot hit one of them in the throat, sending him to his knees, and whirled to kick the other one in the chest. In a smooth motion, he turned to Quiroga, but stopped short. Quiroga's knife had found its way to her throat, and Eliot saw for the first time that she was unconscious. Josef Quiroga's hand was wound in her hair, holding her head back so that her neck was exposed. "I'll kill her," he said, his accent thick. "You take one more step, and I'll kill her."

"Alright man, take it easy." Eliot said, holding his hands up. "Just tell me what you want." Suddenly, Nate stepped from the shawdows and pressed a gun against Quiroga's styled hair.

"Let her go." His voice was cold, edged with razors. Immediately, The knife dropped to the floor, and Eliot swoped in, knocking him unconscious. "Eliot, she's breathing, but it's not good."

"I'll call Hardison, have him whip up a fake ID. We need to go now!" Nate carried her limp body to the car. The longer he looked at her, the worse it got. Her hair was matted with blood, and her arm was sliced in three places. Nate gently heaved her into the back seat, and Eliot slid in after her. The car squealed away, leaving with no answers and even more questions.


	6. Chapter 6

The room was almost dark when Sophie woke up; it was lit only by a crescent moon in the window and the glowing screens on the machines next to the bed. She blinked a couple of times, and stretched her good arm out. She felt a nasal cannula, and frowned. Apparently, she had been out for a while. Her head pounded, and as she pulled her left arm from under the sheets, the white gauze laced up her arm surprised her. She tested the fingers in her bandaged hand, and then heard a crackle of paper. Listening for any footsteps in the hallway, she surreptitiously pulled a small note from underneath the covers. Nate had scrawled his message on a scrap of paper torn from some doctor's chart, Sophie could tell by the illegible figures on the back. In the dim light, she could just make out his words. The note was addressed to a Ms. Stark, Sophie's cover identity.

_Ms. Stark- they know everything, and they'll probably have a few questions, though you have good reason to be a little fuzzy on the details. We're still looking for your sister, come home when you can. All my love, Nate_

Sophie smiled. Once again, in a few cryptic words, Nate had explained everything. And the police would be easy enough to handle, Sophie had lost count of the number of detectives she had grifted before. Ambition, honor, and loyalty: Traits inherent in all cops that made them completely malleable.

"Ms. Stark?" A timid voice interrupted her mental analysis of the note. A nurse had stuck her head in the room, and she smiled gently. "Do you need anything?"

"No, thank you though." She tried to remember exactly what nationality Alicia Stark was, but the details had grown a bit fuzzy.

"I'll get the doctor then." Her tennis shoes squeaked away down the hall, and she returned moments later with a woman whose hair suggested age, but whose expression suggested youth and vitality. She flipped on the lamp to the side of Sophie's bed, and the room was bathed in a soft glow.

"Hi Ms. Stark. I'm Dr. Thomas. How are you feeling today?"

"A little under the weather, actually. And a little confused."

"Well, that's easy enough to fix. You have a minor concussion, so you'll see symptoms of that for a while, and you most likely won't remember what happened. Feel free to ask any questions you need to."

"What did happen?" Sophie could remember perfectly, but she had to keep her cover. She treated it like a game, responding to the doctor's explanations in character out loud, but answering her own questions in her head.

"You arrived here two days ago." _Two days? Well that was actually a surprise. _ "Not to be blunt, but you were kidnapped."

"Goodness!" _Not the first time…_ "By who?" _Quiroga and his thugs_.

"That's not exactly my forte, I'm purely your medical doctor."

"Of course. So why am I all cut and bruised?"

"Well, it appears you were interrogated." _Tortured_. "Your arms are covered with what appear to be systematical cuts, with what, I'm not sure." _A knife. Glinting silver in the slats of light that fell into the warehouse through windows by the ceiling. _"You were beaten, and sustained slight internal damage to some of your organs. Your cheek bone is broken, but that will heal." _Blood dripped down Sophie's cheek, sliding into her mouth._ She shivered. "Are you cold? We can get another blanket." The doctor's voice was gentle.

"It's more the memories than the temperature, doctor."

"You remember?"

Sophie cursed silently, she had almost blown it. "It's weird just knowing that happened to me, and I…I don't remember it."

"You may never remember…in this case, that's probably a good thing." _You have no idea_. Sophie fake yawned, hoping to get some time to herself, but a man stepped into the room. He wasn't wearing a uniform or a suit, which piqued Sophie's interest. He carried a tan leather messenger bag, which he slung on the floor next to the door. His blonde hair had been left to grow shaggy, and his five o'clock shadow had turned into more of a ten o'clock shadow. His voice was slow, and Sophie was surprised to pick up a hint of southern drawl.

"Doctor, you were supposed to alert me when she woke up."

The doctor's warm, comforting voice disappeared, replaced with an icy tone. It didn't take a grifter to feel the temperature of the room drop. "Agent Speare, I need to examine my patient in privacy."

_Agent?_ Sophie's mind buzzed. Whoever this man was, he was not some local cop. The man stepped even further into the room, a hulk of granite that refused to be moved. "I need to question her."

"And you are?" Sophie asked faintly.

"Agent Derek Speare, FBI." He stepped further into the room, ignoring Dr. Thompson's protests. He held out his badge for Sophie to glance at, but not long enough for her to determine if it was real. His appearance certainly wasn't typical of FBI agents she had met.

"She has a traumatic brain injury. She doesn't even remember anything that happened."

"I'll find that out for myself, thanks."

"She's weak, and needs rest, not badgering."

"I would think she needs the man who's behind this to be caught, so it doesn't happen again."

"Doctor, it's alright." Sophie said weakly. "I'm sure it won't take very long." She stalked out of the room, and the nurse, who had been silent the whole time, shot one curious glance over her shoulder as she followed the incensed doctor out. She spoke first, surprising him. "What does the FBI want with me?"

"Ma'am, you were kidnapped by one of the strongest arms dealers on this coast. We're trying to catch him."

"Can I see your badge again?" One more time, she caught him off guard with her question, but he controlled his expression. His impeccable reaction showed more than he wanted to though; now Sophie new that he was trained…and trained well. He pulled out the leather wallet again, handing it to her to examine. Sophie sighed; it would have been so much easier to grift him if he had been pretending too.

"Where were you taken from?"

"I don't remember where…it's all so blurry. I was shopping, I think." She began to play again, but the stakes had suddenly risen. _Elm street. I was walking away from Hardison_.

"Do you remember the men who took you?"

"Not really. There was one? Maybe two." _Yes. Two brutes, and Josef Quiroga himself._

"Are you sure?" Sophie looked into his eyes for the first time. They were a dark brown, almost black, and held her complete attention.

"I'm only sure that I'm not sure." She replied evenly.

"We found two men in a warehouse just north of here."

"Found? Like, they were dead?" She trembled her lips a bit, for effect, but he was unmoved.

"They were knocked unconscious and hog-tied." _Eliot's work_, Sophie smiled to herself. _But what about Quiroga?_ "There is also evidence to suggest that there was a third man that fought with an unknown assailant, and escaped. We also did not recover the knife that cut you." _Tortured me. He made it sound like an accident_.

"I'm very sorry, Derek, but I don't remember any of that." _I remember all of it_.

"That's quite alright. The doctor said you probably wouldn't." For the moment, he seemed to be convinced. Sophie sighed in victory, relaxing back into the pillows. "I just have a few more questions." Instantly, she was back on alert.

"I am really tired. Are you sure this can't wait until tomorrow?"

"We should just get it all over tonight." _Over. Fat Chance._ She nodded once. "We are targeting a man named Helán Quiroga, and his…organization." This was news to all of them, Hardison had swept all of the major agencies, and none of them had any flags around the Quiroga's other than standard warnings.

"What does he have to do with me?"

"Other than kidnapping you, nothing. His son, on the other hand, you know."

"I don't think I've ever met him." Suddenly, she knew this was the wrong answer. If the FBI had been running such a covert operation, surveillance would have started long ago.

Speare gazed at her with his intense, dark eyes for a second. Suddenly, Sophie knew that he knew she was not who she said. Now, the game had turned into a battle of cover stories. "Witnesses saw you talking to him at the Ellery Club four nights ago. Care to change your story?"

"Josef? He's a jerk. He told me his last name was Ramirez. Anyways, all he wanted was sex. I left after one drink."

"How did you two meet?"

"Friend of a friend."

He was getting frustrated. "Does your friend have a name?"

"My friend does, his friend doesn't."

"Who was the man in here before?"

"A friend."

Speare was silent for a moment. He walked back and picked up his messenger bag, pulling out a file folder. "Do you know this girl?" He held out a photo, and although Sophie had never met her, she knew that she was looking at the face of Amy Hardison. She swallowed hard.

"Never seen her. Who's she?"

"She's the reason we're here."


	7. Chapter 7

"That's all he said." Sophie was retelling the encounter to Nate and Parker the next day.

"That's strange. And then he just left?"

"Just walked out." Sophie said. She was sitting up now, reclining in a nest of pillows. "I could tell he didn't believe me, though. We'll have to have Hardison check him out."

"Speaking of Hardison…" Nate began.

"He's driving himself crazy!" Parker exclaimed. "I don't even think Amy was kidnapped. Knowing what we know, maybe the FBI just scared Quiroga into starting his own investigation. But Alec's still searching; he's convinced that since you both were kidnapped in similar ways, Amy probably was too."

"Tell him what we know. We really need him to get his hands on the FBI's files, and Quiroga's computer." Nate said, getting to his feet.

"You're leaving?" Nate rubbed his eyes, and Sophie could see that they were completely bloodshot. Her stay in the hospital was the only reason she had slept; everyone else was running themselves into the ground in the search.

"Well, we can't all be tortured." Nate said. Sophie winced, and he softened his tone. "I'll come back later. Parker, are you staying?"

"Yeah, I'll stay for a little bit until I hear from Eliot. He was going to call me when he finished looking through the files. Honestly, he's the only one who can stand to be around Alec right now."

"That bad?" Sophie asked. Parker only nodded. "That's it. I want out of here. Before that agent comes back, and before Hardison goes off his rocker."

Nate shook his head. "Sophie, you're staying here until you are released, by qualified medical professional. Eliot and Parker do not count. I guess you don't remember, but you almost died the other night."

"But I feel fine now." Sophie protested. "Nate, he's going to come back, and I can't hold him off forever. He's going to start asking questions that a cover identity can't hide. Then what?"

"You're a grifter. Grift."

* * *

Eliot turned up an hour later, a backpack slung over his shoulder. "Hey Soph."

Sophie looked up and smiled, then pushed away the limp dinner in front of her. "Eliot! What are you doing here? I thought you were with Alec."

"He finally passed out from exhaustion. He's sleeping now, and Nate's watching his back." He set his backpack on the ground and unzipped it, digging around inside until he unearthed a set of scrubs. "Are you ready to break out?"

"Thank God. How did you talk Nate into it?"

"Who said Nate knows anything about this?" Eliot frowned as he saw Sophie go for the IV needle in her arm. "Hey! Leave it. We're taking it with us."

"What do you mean?"

"You get to go for a little ride in an ambulance. Besides, Nate's right. You do actually need those fluids to get better."

"You stole an ambulance?" Eliot began to put on the scrubs, and Sophie rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll do anything to get out of here."

"Good. Get in." He walked out into the hall, bringing in a wheelchair he had stowed there. As they walked out the door, he kicked the backpack out of sight under the bed. "You got everything?"

"They took everything, so, yes."

"Well that makes it easy. Now, just keep your head down, like you're tired, and we'll try to get out of here. I have some papers, but I took them from another patient, so…we'll have to be quick."

Sophie snorted in laughter. "Then let's go, Mr. getaway driver. Before the cops come."

"I guess you are probably considered a fugitive by now." Eliot said walking out. "We'll have to work on that."

* * *

"Sophie?" Nate thundered. "What the hell are you doing out of the hospital?" She carried the IV bag in her hand as Eliot helped her through the door and towards the couch. Hardison cleared it of his electronics and cords, making room for her to lay down.

"Ask Eliot. Eliot, I could use those meds you were talking about right now."

"Just a minute Sophie," Eliot said, digging in his bag. He pulled out a vial and syringe and, taking the bag from her, he injected it into the IV. "Just relax."

Nate's face was contorted, like he couldn't decide to be furious or concerned. "Eliot, what the hell were you thinking?"

"Nate, you talked to her, you saw the guy. He's a wild card. She would be in more danger if she stayed."

"And what is Agent Speare going to think when he returns and doesn't find Sophie? He already suspects us."

Sophie sat up against the back of the couch, laying a hand over the back of the couch. "So Nate, you go back with flowers or something, pretend you know nothing. Say I got kidnapped again. I don't know, figure out. I just want to sleep."

"Another reason you should be back in the hospital, under the care of capable doctors."

"Eliot's capable." Sophie mumbled. "I won't die."

Hardison interrupted their argument, launching images onto the screen. "If you don't mind," he began. "Agent Derek Speare: graduated from Dartmouth… overachiever," he muttered. "Joined the FBI at age 26 after a few short stints in local law enforcement. His face also popped a rap sheet for petty burglary and minors in possession, but it's under a different name, so I'm assuming he's been undercover or is currently."

"So either he gave us his real identity, or he constructed and elaborate scheme to hide a troubled past." Nate said.

Hardison was skimming through code in the documents, and he grimaced when he found a tell-tale string of numbers. "There is no 'or'. Agent Derek Speare is the real thing."

Nate was leaning on the counter, nursing a cup of coffee. "Hardison, can you take a break for two minutes and talk with us?"

"I can talk and work," he said, but Parker matter-of-factly shut the cover on his laptop.

"Come one, Hardison. Take a break. Get some food." He unfolded his lanky body and stood up, cracking his back.

"So where are we?" he asked, ambling over to the refrigerator.

"We've got to be close, to something. Sophie and Hardison have both been kidnapped, and the FBI is investigating. We just don't know what it is they're looking at." Nate said.

Eliot nodded. "How did the FBI know to look for Amy?"

Parker looked over the back of the couch at the three men in the kitchen. "If he was undercover with Quiroga, and Quiroga was looking for Amy, then he would probably want to get information, but we don't know how much he knows."

Nate smiled. "So we interrogate him, instead of the other way around."

"And how do you suggest doing that?" Eliot asked.

"I have a couple of plans," Nate said cryptically before disappearing up the stairs. "I need to make some calls."


	8. Chapter 8

When Sophie came down the stairs the next morning, wearing a blue oxford shirt out of Nate's closet over a t-shirt, she stopped dead on the landing. "Nate, what is this?"

"Sophie! I thought you would never forget me." Agent Derek Speare stood up from his plate of bacon and eggs.

"I said what, not who. Nate, what's going on?"

Nate smiled. "We were just talking." Sophie looked around the rest of the kitchen, noticing that Hardison had set down his computers and come to listen.

"About what, exactly?"

She sat down next to Agent Speare, and Eliot slid a plate in front of her. "Sunny side up, just like you like."

"Thanks Eliot. So, what were you guys all talking about? Care to fill me in?

"Fine." Hardison said, his lips carved into a frown. "We're talking about Amy."

"You found her?" Sophie asked, her eyebrows raised.

Agent Speare swallowed a mouthful of breakfast. "Actually, she found us. Well, we sort of met in the middle. She volunteered information anonymously, and we tracked her down."

"Which legally, you're not really supposed to be doing." Nate said.

"From what I've heard, your little act here isn't exactly legal either," he responded equally. "Anyways, we found Amy and put her into protective custody…which she consented to," her added, seeing Hardison's murderous face. "I was the agent assigned to protect her, along with my partner." His voice fell. "It was all at the top secret levels in justice department, and maybe six people knew about the operation at all. We were getting ready to prosecute Quiroga's little gang when Alicia Stark popped on the scene. Naturally, we held off on the notifications to see who the new player was, and if we could implicate her. And then the next day, when I returned to the safe house, my partner was dead, and Amy was gone."

"I'm sorry." Sophie said. She hadn't taken a bite of the breakfast that sat in front of her.

"Yeah, well, it's the job." He said coldly. "Now we need to find Amy. She's the linchpin in this case. Without her testimony, we only have misdemeanors, and we'll get eaten alive by the lawyers."

"So when you heard that there were bodies in the warehouse, you needed to find out what happened." Sophie sighed. "Understandable."

"You remember, don't you? You're a good liar, though."

"Hm. I do remember, every second. I was taken off Elm Street by two of his men, and brought to the warehouse in the back of their SUV. No plates, tinted windows. When we got there, Josef Quiroga was waiting for us. They tied me up, and he interrogated me for about six hours before Eliot and Nate got there."

"What were they asking about?"

"I'm fine, thanks for asking. They asked about pretty much everything. Grilled me on my background, deals I had brokered, that sort of thing. He asked me about the police case, but I'm pretty sure that he was convinced I didn't know anything about it."

Speare watched her warily. "You're a drug dealer?"

"My cover is. Shouldn't you know the difference?"

He ignored her, but seemed impressed. "So what did you tell him? Did you just make things up?"

Sophie was clearly annoyed. "Just because I've never ran drugs doesn't mean I don't know anything about it. But we take care of things in our own way, I hope you've learned that by now."

"I have indeed. Nice little operation you have going on here."

"It works for us. So, Agent Speare, what do we need to do to get you to leave?"

Her brusque tone didn't faze him, he simply took another swig of orange juice. "Amy Hardison."

Hardison stepped in. "I've already explained to you. I don't want to find her, I just want to know that she's safe."

"We can protect her, Alec." Speare said, leaning in. "You couldn't find her in our custody, did you? She's safe."

"Quiroga found her."

"That was bad luck."

"I hate being out of the loop!" Sophie huffed. "Will someone please fill me in?"

Nate looked over from refilling his coffee. "Crack FBI Agent Speare over here took Amy to a safe house that turned out to be right down the street from Quiroga's sister."

"…who went by a different name, came here illegally, and has no connections to the family business." Speare interrupted defensively.

"Other than family," Eliot said, rolling his eyes. "Anyways, Quiroga himself must have seen her when he went to his sister's house for dinner or something. These guys didn't even know about it until they took a closer look at the neighbors after Amy was taken."

"And you think you could keep her safer."

"Maybe not now. But before, she had anonymity. I gave her a fresh start."

"Not too fresh, if she comes to the FBI confessing that she's a federal witness that slipped custody."

"Guys, Guys!" Parker shouted, joining the conversation for the first time. "We need to find her. Alec, I know you don't believe me, but this is going to be good for you." She paused, watching all the faces. "Look at the safe house. The SUV, remember? We have no reason to believe they've switched cars."

"It won't work," Speare said, thinking tactically. "The only cameras were FBI surveillance, and they took out our cameras first. The nearest cams were in town, but they didn't register on any of them, we already checked it out." He stopped hesitantly. "You guys can go outside the law though, correct?"

Hardison smiled for the first time since the man came. "Man, I hacked you the second you walked through the door, and the FBI is a lot easier to break into than you think."

"Okay. Then you need to isolate Quiroga's financial activity since he arrived in the US. He has to have distribution warehouses somewhere. I'm assuming that's where you two were both taken, to old warehouses they didn't use anymore. There's going to be a lot, because they rotate, but most likely they're trying to go as far away from prying eyes as they can. Look in his early years." The team was staring at him. "I've been waiting for a subpoena that probably is never going to come through."

Hardison threw the information up onto his screens. "Okay. I have eleven warehouses. Looks like five are within thirty minutes…only one was purchased in the six years, we can probably ignore that one, but we still have four left."

"We don't have time to search them all," Nate said. "Can we figure out which ones are active?"

Hardison nodded. "There is one thing we can try. Agent Speare, you might want to close your eyes."

Speare looked suspicious. "Exactly how illegal are we talking here?"

"Do you have access to an NSA satellite for me?" Hardison smiled, swiping a few buttons and pulling up images on his screen. Speare just crowded closer around him, watching the master work in his domain. "Okay, I'm looking at the truck activity at each warehouse…We've got it. Amy's in that one."

Eliot, Nate, Speare, and Parker grabbed their things and ran out the door while Sophie sat down next to him. He closed his eyes and leaned back into the couch. "We'll find her." He said softly, more to himself than out loud. "We're going to find her."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"So what's out tactical plan?" Speare asked, leaning into the front seat to talk to Nate and Parker. Eliot sat in the back seat with him, napping.

"Eliot." Nate said.

"Eliot makes the plans?"

"No, Eliot is our plan." Parker corrected.

Speare looked dubious. "You said he's a…a hitter? So he hits people?"

"Remember the two thugs from the warehouse?" Parker asked, her eyes steeling to defend her friend.

"That was him? Man. Okay, I'll believe it when I see it. He just sleeps before ops?"

Parker shrugged. "He's tired. He's been babysitting Alec all night. He'll be fine by the time we get there."

Speare looked at Eliot, who was conked out in the back seat beside him. Eliot's long hair was loose, and his mouth was wide open. "Are you sure?"

"I'm not even asleep." Eliot muttered, unmoving except for his mouth, until his cell phone started buzzing. "Hardison? What do you have? Okay…Okay…thanks." He turned to the rest of the people in the car. "He found the footage of when they brought Amy here. Same plan as with Sophie, two thugs and Josef Quiroga."

Nate began to strategize. "Speare, Quiroga can't see you, because you'll be at his trial, but I can hold him off while you guys take out the two thugs. Parker, you can get us in quietly?"

"Always," she said, looking at blueprints that Hardison had sent with them. "The best entrance is the front one. If we're lucky, they haven't installed any new surveillance, but they definitely might have because we managed to break the security in the last places in like thirty seconds."

Eliot unbuckled and looked over Parker's shoulder, pointing to an isolated back room. "There. That's the best place to keep her. No windows, only one entrance. It makes it easier for us, but also more dangerous for her, if they brought guns to this knife fight."

"That's your job, Speare. After you and Eliot take care of the guards, go to Amy."

"What about Quiroga? You can't kill him."

"No, we don't kill people," Nate corrected. "We have plans that you don't really need to know. Just don't be surprised if he's in the trunk of your car come Monday morning. Alive, of course."

"Of course. And then what? Just arrest him?"

"We'll provide you with sufficient evidence."

"Alright then. Let's do this." They pulled up just outside the warehouse and piled out silently.

Parker slid around the corner, out of view of the cameras, and worked her magic. Three minutes later, she slipped back to the three men, announcing, "We're clear. They upped the security, but not by much. I just had to take a couple of seconds to take out the motion detectors on the doors."

As they walked by the disabled boxes, Speare's eyes widened. "You took out a Seculock system?" He whispered in awe. "Those things were just released. The FBI was thinking about using them in our buildings."

"There's a glitch." Parker responded. "Stick with what you have, they're pretty nice. The new motion detectors aren't always the best."

"How do you know what we have? That information is…"

"I broke in last year. Just for a peek."

"Are you guys done comparing notes?" Nate warned. "We need to go in." Eliot snuck through the door that Parker had left cracked, and led the group along the wall.

"There's our target." He pointed at a small room in the back of the empty warehouse. A heavyset man stood outside smoking, one hand on an automatic weapon that hung at his side. "You guys stay here, I got him. Wait….Speare, distract him. Call out or something. I don't like the look of that trigger finger."

"Why me?" Speare whispered loudly, but Eliot had already left, slinking through the shadows. "Good lord." He muttered. Taking a deep breath, he crouched further down behind the giant crates they were using as a shield and shouted. "Oy! Over here!" Immediately, the man standing guard by the door raised the gun, swinging it wildly around the room and trying to find where the voice was coming from. Eliot came up behind him from out of nowhere, knocking the gun out of his hands and easily countering the slow, predictable moves of the thug's fight. He was on the floor in seconds, and Eliot motioned for the group to come over.

They froze as the door opened with a click, and another man stuck his head out, trying to find his partner. He didn't look long; Eliot swiftly kicked his gun up and out of his hands, kneeing the man in the crotch as he tried to react. Nate was behind him, grabbing the gun and arming himself and slinging it around his own shoulder as he walked purposefully into the room. He immediately sought out Quiroga, who was advancing on Amy in the center of the room. Immediately, although he had no experience with guns, be slid the barrel up to his eye line, putting his finger just above the trigger. "Josef Quiroga!" He shouted. "Freeze!"

In two steps, Eliot joined the fray, pinning Quiroga against the wall. As he led the man out, he called over his shoulder, "Nate, do you even know how to shoot that thing?"

"No idea. Amy?"

Speare and Parker had joined them in the room and were gently untying Amy from her binds. "She's good. Not a scratch." Parker said, pulling the gag from her mouth.

Amy looked around the room, still not quite comprehending what had happened. "Who are you guys?" she asked. "Derek? Where's Gail?"

He winced. "Gail was my partner." He said by way of explanation. He knelt next to Amy. "Gail was killed when you were taken."

"No. No!" Amy said. "I thought we were safe."

"You were supposed to be," Nate said, stepping forward.

"Who are you?" Amy spat through her tears.

"Friends of your brother's." Parker said, joining Nate.

"I don't have a brother." Amy said suspiciously.

"You did at one time."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 **

"Alec?" She said quietly, her tears stopping. "Alec sent you for me?"

"He wants you safe." Nate explained. "And then all of this happened."

"His idea of safe was to put me in hiding." Bitterness crept into her voice. "I haven't seen him in eighteen years."

"It was to keep you safe" Parker piped up. "He's been looking for you for weeks now."

"So where is he now?" She was still angry, and sad, and a little bit shell-shocked from the events of the past days.

"We kept him at home. If he came, he would have jeopardized the whole thing. We needed to be able to arrest Quiroga and his organization after all of this," Speare said, leading her out of the room.

"Can I see him?"

"We'll drive you there."

"Derek?" The one word was a safety net, a person to blame if the situation all went to hell.

"It's okay, Amy. These guys are safe." They piled into the car, leaving Eliot with the three men, lying bound on the ground.

Derek looked over his shoulder. "We're just leaving them here?"

"Eliot will take care of it. Just trust us." Nate pulled out of the warehouse lot, tires squealing. Parker, who had taken the front seat again, held tight to the door, smiling widely.

"Are we in a hurry, Nate?"

"It's not every day that I get to drive this car…and man, is it fun."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, they parked outside the apartment. The climb up the back staircase seemed even longer than usual as they waited with baited breath to see what would take place. Amy looked even more pale and nervous than before; she couldn't keep still. Parker opened the door silently, smiling as Amy stepped into the room. Hardison scrambled to his feet, and it was obvious looking at the two, that they were siblings. Speare and Nate filed into the room behind her, and Parker closed the door. All eyes in the room were glued to the two Hardisons.

Alec cleared his throat. "Amy…Are you okay?"

"Fine." She replied, appraising him. "And you?" She eyed his bandaged hands.

"Job hazard…They didn't touch you, though, right?"

"No, these guys got there first."

"Yeah, they're great."

Nate walked across the room to the kitchen area. "Well, we'll give you a chance to catch up." He said awkwardly. Sophie, who had been watching from the couch beside Hardison, stood up and joined him at the counter, and Speare and Parker walked over as well, sneaking surreptitious glances over their shoulders. Amy and Alec hugged once, but it was more like casual acquaintances than long lost family. They sat down on the couch, talking quietly.

"What is going through their heads right now?" Sophie asked the group. "It's incredible…eighteen years since they've seen each other."

"I'm just glad everyone's safe." Parker said. She leaned into Nate's ear and whispered, "What are you going to do with Quiroga?"

"I have some ideas…but I need Hardison. Eliot is taking care of elder Quiroga now anyways."

"You sent him alone?" Parker whispered furiously. "After all that's happened?"

"Relax, Parker. He's just telling the wrong things to the right people, and hopefully this will take care of itself."

* * *

The next morning, as Eliot was serving up French toast to Speare, Amy, and the team, the news blared in the background. "Guys, settle down, we're up next!" Nate called, turning up the volume even further. The reporter's voice echoed through the silent room.

"Earlier this morning, notorious mob boss Helán Quiroga was found dead in his home after a shootout with a rival gang. His son, Josef Quiroga, is missing and presumed to be working with the other gang. He is wanted for questioning about his father's death. Any leads should be directed to the FBI call center, whose number is at the bottom of the screen right now."

Speare's face was frozen, unwilling to believe what he heard. "Eliot killed him?"

"No. Eliot left cookie crumbs. The rival gang shootout, that's completely true. Josef Quiroga's involvement…not so true, but the evidence will say it is."

"It's a solid case." Eliot said over the sizzling griddle. "Airtight. Like Nate said, Josef Quiroga will be delivered to you by Monday. And make sure to check his pockets. I'm pretty sure he has a list of all of his accomplices as well.

"You took down the Mob," Amy said, awed.

"No." Nate answered. "The mob took down themselves."


End file.
